Never Judge A Book By Its Cover
by fantasticxfoursome
Summary: Dan thinks Phil is a snobby, popular kid who cares too much about his reputation. Dan and Phil bump into each other while they're out and Phil's with his Grandma. His Grandma tells Dan how much Phil talks about him and Dan finds it cute. Dan and Phil start talking and get to know each other, and Dan realizes how wrong he was about Phil.


"Howell!" Dan rolled his eyes when he heard the familiar voice.

"What do you want Lester?" Dan asked as he turned around, then crossing his arms against his chest and sighing as he watched Phil Lester walk up to him.

It was a Friday afternoon; and after a long week, it was finally the weekend. Dan couldn't be more excited about it. Dan always looked forward to the weekends. Dan didn't like school... not one bit. It's not that school was bad... he just didn't like it. Dan wasn't the most popular kid in school but Dan also didn't care about popularity. He had a couple friends that he could talk to whenever he was bored and that's all that he needed in his life.

But, Phil Lester was different than Dan was. Phil Lester was one of the most popular kids in school. Everybody knew who he was; they either loved him or hated him. Dan was one of those people who didn't like Phil. He just thought he was quite annoying and obnoxious and didn't like his attitude one bit. So he tried to stay away from him as much as possible. The only problem was that Phil had a little crush on Dan and was always flirting with him and playfully hitting on him. Dan always pushed him away though and denied him.

"Wow. Someone's in a mood today," Phil said as he walked up to Dan.

Dan rolled his eyes. "I just want to go home," he said.

"I was just gonna ask you... do you want to hang out this weekend?" Phil asked.

"Why would I want to do that?" Dan asked. The last thing Dan wanted to do was spend more time with Phil than he had to. He wished Phil would just get the picture that he didn't like him and didn't want to be around him... at all. Dan just didn't trust Phil.

"Oh, come on. I always try to talk to you and you turn me down," Phil said.

"That's because I have better things to do in my time," Dan snapped.

Phil was a little taken back by Dan snapping at him. Phil wasn't used to people turning him down like this but Dan always turned him down and it hurt him a little. Phil didn't know what he did to make Dan hate him so much like this. "Wow." Phil whispered.

Dan sighed as he stared at Phil, feeling slightly bad for snapping at him but he couldn't help himself. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I don't have time for this... I have to go. My mum's waiting for me at home," Dan whispered. He turned back around and walked away from Phil.

It was a couple hours later when Dan was going to the grocery store for his mother. Luckily he didn't live that far away from the town's grocery store, which was always nice. Dan liked that everything was close together in this town. It was small but nice.

Dan had just finished getting all of the groceries for his mother and had just paid. He walked out of the grocery store, holding the two bags of groceries in his hands. He looked up and frowned when he saw that the sky was grey, which meant that it was going to rain later.

"Grandma, don't worry about it! I'll take care of it. It'll only take a few seconds," Dan blinked a few times when he heard the familiar voice. He looked over and was surprised when he saw none other than Phil Lester, who seemed to be with his grandma at his car. Dan froze as soon as he saw Phil look up and stare right back at him. "Oh, uhm... Dan?" Phil asked, a little surprised to see Dan there.

"Uhm..." Dan nervously looked around him, not knowing what to say.

"What are you doing here?" Phil asked as he shut the trunk to his car.

"Oh, uhm... I-I was just getting some groceries for my mum," Dan said, holding up the bags he was holding. He looked back at Phil. "What are you doing here?"

"Is this the Dan boy that you're always talking about?" Phil's grandma asked.

"Grandma!" Phil groaned and hid his face in his hands, his face going bright red.

"Wow, really? You talk about me?" Dan asked, a little more interested.

"No, I-I don't. She's just making that up," Phil said. He quickly shook his head.

"Oh don't be silly Philip, you talk about him all the time! You always talk about how you see him at school and how cute you think he is. I'm pretty sure it's this boy here," His Grandma said. She looked back at her grandson and smiled at him.

"Grandma, stop embarrassing me!" Phil hissed. He sighed and shook his head.

"I think it's kind of cute," Dan said. He gave Phil a smile.

"What?" Phil asked as he looked up at Dan. "You just declined me earlier and now you're calling me cute? You're giving me mixed signals here," he said.

"Maybe I judged you too hard, too fast. I shouldn't have done that," Dan said.

"Who did you think I was?" Phil asked curiously.

"I know how popular you are... it sounds horrible but, I just thought you were snobby like all the other kids are. All kids care about in this school is popularity and money," Dan said.

"I don't care about popularity. Well, it's nice to have a lot of friends but..."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were like that," Dan said apologetically.

Phil shook his head. "I can understand why you would think like that. Honestly," he said.

"I'd love to take you up on that offer of hanging out this weekend?" Dan said.

"Really?" Phil asked excitedly yet trying to stay calm on the inside. Phil had been waiting to be able to hang out with Dan properly for quite a while now so of course he was excited. "Oh, but I'm staying at my Grandma's tonight. Can we hang out tomorrow or Sunday?" He asked.

"Yeah. Do you want my number?" Dan asked as he pulled his phone out.

"Of course I do-" Phil said with a smile. He also pulled his phone out, and then he and Dan quickly exchanged their phone numbers. "Thanks. So, do you want a ride home then? It looks like it's going to rain and I wouldn't want you to get sick or anything," Phil said.

"That would be great. I don't want to get sick either," Dan said. He and Phil laughed.

"Alright love birds. I'd hate to break this up but... I've got frozens," Phil's Grandma said.

"Oh! Sorry Grandma. We can go now," Phil said.

Dan smiled as he walked over to Phil's car and got in, sitting in the backseat while Phil drove.

Dan was glad that he had run into Phil at the grocery store. He got to talk to Phil a little on the way home and he was honestly excited about hanging out with Phil this weekend.

"Thanks for the ride home," Dan said as he got out of Phil's car and shut the door.

"No problem. It was nice running into you," Phil said.

Dan smiled as he looked down at Phil and nodded. "Yeah, definitely. Uhm, so... I'll text you later and we can figure out when we'll hang out this weekend?" He said.

"Yeah, sounds good. See you later!" Phil called as he watched Dan walk up to his house.

"Bye!" Dan said as he waved to Phil. He smiled as he watched Phil drive away.

_3 Weeks Later_;

Dan and Phil's relationship had definitely changed ever since their first interaction with each other. They had been hanging out for the past 3 weeks and have gotten to know each other and have even bonded. They realized that they had much more in common than they thought, which was a bonus for them. They pretty much haven't left each other's sides since they started hanging out with each other. Dan was thankful that he had gotten to know Phil more, and he realized that Phil wasn't the snobby, bad boy he thought Phil was.

Now it was the weekend once again, Dan and Phil were hanging out at Phil's house. Phil was supposed to be hanging out with his other friends but he decided he would much rather be spending more time with Dan. Any time he got to spend with Dan was better.

Dan and Phil were now snuggled up with each other in Phil's bed. Phil was usually never one to enjoy cuddling with someone else. He just found it boring but... Dan was definitely the type of guy who loved to cuddle and snuggle. Phil was getting used to it though and now... he quite enjoyed being able to cuddle with Dan. It was quite nice.

"Phil?" Dan asked as he looked up at Phil, breaking the silence.

"Yes love?" Phil asked as he looked back down at Dan.

Dan bit his lip before he pushed himself up in sitting position but still leaning against Phil. He sighed as he looked at Phil again. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," he said.

"What are you saying sorry for?" Phil asked, a little surprised.

"Before we met... you would always try to talk to me and you flirted with me which clearly meant that you liked me but, I just thought you were some jerk who only cared about his reputation. I shouldn't have judged you like that. I owe you an apology," Dan said.

"You don't owe me anything, okay? It doesn't matter now," Phil said. "Besides... it's just like that one saying people always say... never judge a book by its cover."

Dan laughed. "That's so true. So, you don't hate me then?" He asked.

"Oh, come on! Why would I hate you for something silly like that? It's like I said... it doesn't matter now because we've gotten to know each other really well," Phil said.

"Yeah, I'm really glad we got to know each other because now you're one of my best friends and I couldn't ask for anything better than that," Dan said with a smile.

"Hopefully one day we can be more than best friends?" Phil asked hopefully.

"Really?" Dan asked with shock. "Wow. You would want to date me?" He couldn't help but be a little surprised. Dan was 16-years-old and he had never had a boyfriend before. He'd known his whole life that he was gay and that he preferred boys over girls. He never thought someone like Phil Lester would want to date him. It just shocked him a little.

"Why is that so surprising?" Phil asked, also sitting up.

Dan shrugged his shoulders. "No one's ever wanted to date me before."

"I find that hard to believe. I'm sure there's plenty of people out there who would want to be your boyfriend. You just gotta look around a little," Phil told him.

"Yeah, but you know how much I hate people," Dan said.

Phil laughed. "Your impossible!" He said. He shook his head.

"Hey, I am not!" Dan claimed. He pushed Phil playfully and then he sunk down and rested his head on Phil's chest again. He sighed happily. "I love you." Dan whispered.

Phil couldn't help but smile to himself when he heard Dan say those three words. He has always had a crush on Dan and now his feelings for Dan were growing even bigger. He was so happy that he and Dan were close now and that they were best friends.

"Dan?" Phil asked as he wrapped his arms around Dan, pulling him closer.

"Hm?" Dan asked, snuggling even closer to Phil.

"I just wanted to say... love you too, and I'm so happy that you feel the same way," Phil whispered. He looked down at Dan and chuckled when he saw Dan blushing.


End file.
